In many applications, sensing a physical quantity, such as a temperature, is useful, sometimes even necessary because of a wide range of possible reasons. For instance, sensing a temperature outside of a predefined range of temperatures may represent an undesired state of a system. Such a temperature may for instance be caused by a malfunction of the system or a distortion or deviation of the environmental conditions from their specified tolerances. For instance, in case of an integrated circuit, sensing an exceeded temperature beyond a predefined temperature range may indicate that the system is producing too much heat or that the heat produced cannot be removed adequately.
In some applications, such a deviation from a specified temperature range may also be indicative of an attempt to break the system security or to tamper with the system.
The same may also apply to other physical quantities.
Conventionally, a sensor typically employs a sensor element, which transfers the physical quantity to be measured into an electrical signal, which is then compared to a fixed, predefined signal having a constant property.
However, providing such a fixed, predetermined signal often represents a significant challenge, since a signal source for such a signal typically relies on a specific physical effect, which in turn may depend on intrinsic material properties or extrinsic parameters such as shape, dimensions or the like.
To utilize the physical effect, the signal source is typically driven in a closed-feedback loop configuration to maintain the fixed, predefined signal. However, it may be advisable or sometimes even necessary to implement further circuitries and components to cope with drifts and other distortions of operating parameters.
In some applications, the physical effect requires an implementation of a specific structure, which may be difficult to implement in a given environment. Both may give rise to additional circuitries or complex structures to incorporate.
Therefore, a demand exists to provide an infrastructure for sensing a physical quantity with a reduced complexity.